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Peter Mundy

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University of Chicago

Villanova University

Shaun Gallagher

University of Memphis

University of Exeter

University of Copenhagen

Oxford Brookes University

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

Università degli Studi di Milano - State University of Milan (Italy)

Michael Kirchhoff

University of Wollongong

Michael Schmitz

University of Vienna

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Papers by Peter Mundy

The relation between text reading fluency and reading comprehension for students with autism spectrum disorders

Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, Sep 1, 2017

Deficits in reading comprehension have been well documented in individuals with autism. Researche... more Deficits in reading comprehension have been well documented in individuals with autism. Researchers have begun to identify predictors of reading comprehension; we sought to add to this knowledge base by investigating the role of text reading fluency in the prediction of reading comprehension in a sample of individuals with higher functioning autism (HFASD). A comprehensive reading battery was administered to students with HFASD (N = 68) and age-matched typically developing (TD) students (N = 38). Significant differences were detected between the HFASD and TD samples on every reading measure, favoring the TD sample. Structural Equation Models with the HFASD indicates that text reading fluency significantly predicts reading comprehension above and beyond the contribution of other reading variables which have been shown to be significant predictors in previous studies. This finding has important implications for the treatment of reading deficits in individuals with HFASD.

Development of socially assistive robots for children with autism spectrum disorders

USC Interaction Lab, Los Angeles, CA, Tech. Rep. CRES-09-001, Oct 1, 2009

This paper describes the design and implementation of a robotic system for interaction with child... more This paper describes the design and implementation of a robotic system for interaction with children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The system consists of a robot and supporting infrastructure, including a "smart room". The intent of this work is to explore and study the design of a therapeutic, minimally-restrictive environment that enables free-form human-human and human-robot interaction. Our primary design goals include: 1) using minimal structure with the participants in order to elicit natural behavior; 2) increasing a child's social interactions while utilizing minimal human-operated technology; and 3) facilitating human-robot interaction while requiring the child to wear no more than the minimum needed for effective signal detection. The robot system implemented in this study uses non-invasive methods for sensing and interpreting the child's behavior in order to interact with a child in free-form play while eliciting social behavior from the child. We present results from two feasibility studies with 12 children with ASD in order to validate the effectiveness of the robot system. We also discuss recommendations for the use of robot technology in ASD research settings.

Autism and Deficits in Attachment Behavior

Science, 2005

Social cognition and Reading comprehension in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders or typical development

Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, Oct 1, 2018

Background: Many individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) exhibit social cognitive impair... more Background: Many individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) exhibit social cognitive impairments in the development of theory of mind (ToM), or the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others. ToM has been shown to relate to reading comprehension for children and adolescents with typical development (TD) and with ASD. This study examined the relation between reading comprehension, word recognition, oral language, and ToM for higher-functioning children and adolescents with ASD (HFASD) as compared to those with TD. Method: 70 children with HFASD and 40 children with TD, aged 9-17 years, participated in the study. In order to describe the HFASD as compared to the TD sample, a series of ANOVAs and ANCOVAs were conducted. Multiple regression analyses were conducted with reading comprehension as the outcome variable. Separate regression models (TD & HFASD) were run with IQ, word recognition, oral language, and two ToM measures (Happé's Strange Stories and the Silent Films Task) as predictors. Results: The TD group performed better than the HFASD group on all standardized and experimental measures. Regression analyses revealed that after controlling for IQ, word recognition, and oral language, both ToM measures predicted unique variance in reading comprehension in the HFASD, but not the TD, sample. Furthermore, the TD and HFASD groups displayed different patterns of significant predictors of reading comprehension. Conclusions: This study suggests that in addition to oral language and higher-order linguistic comprehension, social cognition is an important factor to consider when designing reading interventions for students with ASD.

The Bidirectional Social-Cognitive Mechanisms of the Social-Attention Symptoms of Autism

Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2022

Differences in social attention development begin to be apparent in the 6th to 12th month of deve... more Differences in social attention development begin to be apparent in the 6th to 12th month of development in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and theoretically reflect important elements of its neurodevelopmental endophenotype. This paper examines alternative conceptual views of these early social attention symptoms and hypotheses about the mechanisms involved in their development. One model emphasizes mechanism involved in the spontaneous allocation of attention to faces, or social orienting. Alternatively, another model emphasizes mechanisms involved in the coordination of attention with other people, or joint attention, and the socially bi-directional nature of its development. This model raises the possibility that atypical responses of children to the attention or the gaze of a social partner directed toward themselves may be as important in the development of social attention symptoms as differences in the development of social orienting. Another model holds that sy...

Task engagement during narrative writing in school-age children with autism spectrum disorder compared to peers with and without attentional difficulties

Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 2020

Background: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate highly variable writing skil... more Background: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate highly variable writing skills. Few studies have examined if engagement during writing assessments may differ for children with ASD and if task engagement is related to their writing assessment performance. This study examined narrative writing and broad task engagement in children with ASD compared to peers with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and typically developing (TD) peers. Method: Sixty children with ASD, 32 children with ADHD, and 29 TD children completed assessments of cognitive skills, symptom severity, and spontaneous narrative writing. Time spent engaged during writing was assessed during the spontaneous narrative writing task. Results: The ASD group performed lowest on text organization and quality scores as well as word production scores while also spending the least time engaged with the writing task. Time spent engaged was most strongly associated with narrative writing scores in the ASD group and explained unique variance in text organization and quality scores and word production scores after controlling for related age, cognitive skills, and symptom severity variables. The ADHD group showed similar associations between time spent engaged and word production scores, and time spent engaged explained unique variance in word production scores. Conclusions: Time spent engaged completing the writing task appeared lowest for the ASD group and may suggest writing task engagement to be a more prominent difficulty area for children with ASD compared to peers with ADHD and TD peers. Implications for better understanding and supporting the writing skills of children with ASD are discussed.

Gaps in Current Autism Research: The Thoughts of the Autism Research Editorial Board and Associate Editors

Autism Research, 2019

Broken bridges-new school transitions for students with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review on difficulties and strategies for success

Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2018

Transitioning to a new school is often challenging for students with autism spectrum disorder. Fe... more Transitioning to a new school is often challenging for students with autism spectrum disorder. Few studies have examined the transition needs of students with autism spectrum disorder or the benefits of specific supports. This review synthesizes research findings on the difficulties that school transitions pose for students with autism spectrum disorder and their parents and teachers, and the strategies used to support students and parents during school transition. The review included 27 studies (10 examining the transition to primary school, 17 the transition to secondary school), with data from 443 students with autism spectrum disorder, 453 parents, and 546 teachers, across four continents (North America, Europe, Africa, and Australia). Studies reported that children with autism spectrum disorder struggled with anxiety and increased social pressure, their parents felt overwhelmed with complex placement decisions and worried about the well-being of their children, and teachers str...

The Stability of Self-Reported Anxiety in Youth with Autism Versus ADHD or Typical Development

Journal of autism and developmental disorders, Jan 7, 2017

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at risk for anxiety symptoms. Few anxiety measur... more Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at risk for anxiety symptoms. Few anxiety measures are validated for individuals with ASD, and the nature of ASD raises questions about reliability of self-reported anxiety. This study examined longitudinal stability and change of self-reported anxiety in higher functioning youth with ASD (HFASD) compared to youth with symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and typical development (TD) using the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (March, 2012; March et al. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 36(4):554-565, 1997). Diagnostic groups demonstrated comparable evidence of stability for most dimensions of anxiety. The HFASD group displayed higher anxiety than both comparison groups, especially physical symptoms. These findings have implications for identification and measurement of anxiety in ASD.

Joint Attention in Preschool Children: Is it a Meaningful Measure?

International Journal of School and Cognitive Psychology, 2015

The goal of this study was to evaluate the degree to which measuring joint attention an aspect of... more The goal of this study was to evaluate the degree to which measuring joint attention an aspect of social attention, is meaningful for the learning and development of preschool children. Joint attention refers to the executive capacity to coordinate visual attention with another person. This pivotal skill begins to develop from 6 to 18 months of age and continues to be refined and coordinated throughout individual developmental trajectories. In this study joint attention was measured in forty-three 4 to 5-year-olds asked to coordinate their attention with that of an unfamiliar adult during a social attention word learning task. The results revealed that there were individual differences in joint attention for children in this age group which suggests that this may be a meaningful construct to measure. These data contribute to a small but growing literature on the potential utility of joint attention theory and measurement in preschool aged children to further our understanding of social attention coordination in classroom contexts.

Supporting the Spectrum Hypothesis: Self-Reported Temperament in Children and Adolescents with High Functioning Autism

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2015

This study tested the spectrum hypothesis, which posits that children and adolescents with high f... more This study tested the spectrum hypothesis, which posits that children and adolescents with high functioning autism (HFA) differ quantitatively but not qualitatively from typically developing peers on self-reported temperament. Temperament refers to early-appearing, relatively stable behavioral and emotional tendencies, which relate to maladaptive behaviors across clinical populations. Quantitatively, participants with HFA (N=104, aged 10-16) self-reported less Surgency and more Negative Affect but did not differ from comparison participants (N=94, aged 10-16) on Effortful Control or Affiliation. Qualitatively, groups demonstrated comparable reliability of self-reported temperament and associations between temperament and parentreported behavior problems. These findings support the spectrum hypothesis, highlighting the utility of self-report temperament measures for understanding individual differences in comorbid behavior problems among children and adolescents with HFA.

Metacognitive Awareness of Facial Affect in Higher-Functioning Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Journal of autism and developmental disorders, Jan 23, 2015

Higher-functioning participants with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) viewed a series o... more Higher-functioning participants with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) viewed a series of face stimuli, made decisions regarding the affect of each face, and indicated their confidence in each decision. Confidence significantly predicted accuracy across all participants, but this relation was stronger for participants with typical development than participants with ASD. In the hierarchical linear modeling analysis, there were no differences in face processing accuracy between participants with and without ASD, but participants with ASD were more confident in their decisions. These results suggest that individuals with ASD have metacognitive impairments and are overconfident in face processing. Additionally, greater metacognitive awareness was predictive of better face processing accuracy, suggesting that metacognition may be a pivotal skill to teach in interventions.

Nonverbal Communication and Early Language Acquisition in Children With Down Syndrome and in Normally Developing Children

Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 1995

Many children with Down syndrome display asynchrony in development with the acquisition of langua... more Many children with Down syndrome display asynchrony in development with the acquisition of language preceding at a slower pace than the acquisition of other cognitive skills. Recent research suggests that the expressive language delays that are displayed by these children may be associated with an earlier disturbance in the development of nonverbal requesting skills (Mundy, Sigman, Kasari, & Yirmiya, 1988; Smith & von Tetzchner, 1986). To test this hypothesis, a longitudinal study of 37 children with Down syndrome and 25 children with normal development was conducted. The results of the study indicated that this sample of children with Down syndrome exhibited a disturbance in nonverbal requesting. Furthermore, individual differences in nonverbal requesting were associated with the subsequent development of expressive language in these children. This association was observed even after taking into account initial variance in developmental level and language status. These data suggest...

Joint Attention and Early Social Communication: Implications for Research on Intervention with Autism

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 1997

Highly structured, intensive early intervention may lead to significant developmental gains for m... more Highly structured, intensive early intervention may lead to significant developmental gains for many children with autism. However, a clear understanding of early intervention effects may currently be hampered by a lack of precision in outcome measurement. To improve the precision and sensitivity of outcome assessment it may be useful to integrate research on the nature of the social disturbance of

Resting cortical brain activity and social behavior in higher functioning children with autism

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2005

Background: Psychophysiological measurement of processes related to social behavior may be valuab... more

Self‐referenced memory, social cognition, and symptom presentation in autism

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2009

Background: We examined performance on a self‐referenced memory (SRM) task for higher‐functionin... more Background: We examined performance on a self‐referenced memory (SRM) task for higher‐functioning children with autism (HFA) and a matched comparison group. SRM performance was examined in relation to symptom severity and social cognitive tests of mentalizing.Method: Sixty‐two children (31 HFA, 31 comparison; 8–16 years) completed a SRM task in which they read a list of words and decided whether the word described something about them, something about Harry Potter, or contained a certain number of letters. They then identified words that were familiar from a longer list. Dependent measures were memory performance (d′) in each of the three encoding conditions as well as a self‐memory bias score (d′ self–d′ other). Children completed The Strange Stories Task and The Children’s Eyes Test as measures of social cognition. Parents completed the SCQ and ASSQ as measures of symptom severity.Results: Children in the comparison sample showed the standard SRM effect in which they recognized...

Anterior EEG Asymmetry and the Modifier Model of Autism

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2010

Temperament as a Predictor of Symptomotology and Adaptive Functioning in Adolescents with High-Functioning Autism

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2009

Responding to Joint Attention Across the 6- Through 24-Month Age Period and Early Language Acquisition

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 2000

Anticipatory smiling: Linking early affective communication and social outcome

Infant Behavior and Development, 2009

In anticipatory smiles, infants appear to communicate pre-existing positive affect by smiling at ... more In anticipatory smiles, infants appear to communicate pre-existing positive affect by smiling at an object and then turning the smile toward an adult. We report two studies in which the precursors, development, and consequences of anticipatory smiling were investigated. Study 1 revealed a positive correlation between infant smiling at 6 months and the level of anticipatory smiling at 8 and 10 months during joint attention episodes, as well as a positive correlation between anticipatory smiling and parent-rated social expressivity scores at 30 months. Study 2 confirmed a developmental increase in the number of infants using anticipatory smiles between 9 and 12 months that had been initially documented in the Study 1 sample [Venezia, M., Messinger, D. S., Thorp, D., & Mundy, P. (2004). The development of anticipatory smiling. Infancy, 6(3), 397-406]. Additionally, anticipatory smiling at 9 months positively predicted parent-rated social competence scores at 30 months. Findings are discussed with regard to the importance of anticipatory smiling in early socioemotional development.

The relation between text reading fluency and reading comprehension for students with autism spectrum disorders

Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, Sep 1, 2017

Deficits in reading comprehension have been well documented in individuals with autism. Researche... more Deficits in reading comprehension have been well documented in individuals with autism. Researchers have begun to identify predictors of reading comprehension; we sought to add to this knowledge base by investigating the role of text reading fluency in the prediction of reading comprehension in a sample of individuals with higher functioning autism (HFASD). A comprehensive reading battery was administered to students with HFASD (N = 68) and age-matched typically developing (TD) students (N = 38). Significant differences were detected between the HFASD and TD samples on every reading measure, favoring the TD sample. Structural Equation Models with the HFASD indicates that text reading fluency significantly predicts reading comprehension above and beyond the contribution of other reading variables which have been shown to be significant predictors in previous studies. This finding has important implications for the treatment of reading deficits in individuals with HFASD.

Development of socially assistive robots for children with autism spectrum disorders

USC Interaction Lab, Los Angeles, CA, Tech. Rep. CRES-09-001, Oct 1, 2009

This paper describes the design and implementation of a robotic system for interaction with child... more This paper describes the design and implementation of a robotic system for interaction with children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The system consists of a robot and supporting infrastructure, including a "smart room". The intent of this work is to explore and study the design of a therapeutic, minimally-restrictive environment that enables free-form human-human and human-robot interaction. Our primary design goals include: 1) using minimal structure with the participants in order to elicit natural behavior; 2) increasing a child's social interactions while utilizing minimal human-operated technology; and 3) facilitating human-robot interaction while requiring the child to wear no more than the minimum needed for effective signal detection. The robot system implemented in this study uses non-invasive methods for sensing and interpreting the child's behavior in order to interact with a child in free-form play while eliciting social behavior from the child. We present results from two feasibility studies with 12 children with ASD in order to validate the effectiveness of the robot system. We also discuss recommendations for the use of robot technology in ASD research settings.

Autism and Deficits in Attachment Behavior

Science, 2005

Social cognition and Reading comprehension in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders or typical development

Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, Oct 1, 2018

Background: Many individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) exhibit social cognitive impair... more Background: Many individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) exhibit social cognitive impairments in the development of theory of mind (ToM), or the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others. ToM has been shown to relate to reading comprehension for children and adolescents with typical development (TD) and with ASD. This study examined the relation between reading comprehension, word recognition, oral language, and ToM for higher-functioning children and adolescents with ASD (HFASD) as compared to those with TD. Method: 70 children with HFASD and 40 children with TD, aged 9-17 years, participated in the study. In order to describe the HFASD as compared to the TD sample, a series of ANOVAs and ANCOVAs were conducted. Multiple regression analyses were conducted with reading comprehension as the outcome variable. Separate regression models (TD & HFASD) were run with IQ, word recognition, oral language, and two ToM measures (Happé's Strange Stories and the Silent Films Task) as predictors. Results: The TD group performed better than the HFASD group on all standardized and experimental measures. Regression analyses revealed that after controlling for IQ, word recognition, and oral language, both ToM measures predicted unique variance in reading comprehension in the HFASD, but not the TD, sample. Furthermore, the TD and HFASD groups displayed different patterns of significant predictors of reading comprehension. Conclusions: This study suggests that in addition to oral language and higher-order linguistic comprehension, social cognition is an important factor to consider when designing reading interventions for students with ASD.

The Bidirectional Social-Cognitive Mechanisms of the Social-Attention Symptoms of Autism

Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2022

Differences in social attention development begin to be apparent in the 6th to 12th month of deve... more Differences in social attention development begin to be apparent in the 6th to 12th month of development in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and theoretically reflect important elements of its neurodevelopmental endophenotype. This paper examines alternative conceptual views of these early social attention symptoms and hypotheses about the mechanisms involved in their development. One model emphasizes mechanism involved in the spontaneous allocation of attention to faces, or social orienting. Alternatively, another model emphasizes mechanisms involved in the coordination of attention with other people, or joint attention, and the socially bi-directional nature of its development. This model raises the possibility that atypical responses of children to the attention or the gaze of a social partner directed toward themselves may be as important in the development of social attention symptoms as differences in the development of social orienting. Another model holds that sy...

Task engagement during narrative writing in school-age children with autism spectrum disorder compared to peers with and without attentional difficulties

Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 2020

Background: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate highly variable writing skil... more Background: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate highly variable writing skills. Few studies have examined if engagement during writing assessments may differ for children with ASD and if task engagement is related to their writing assessment performance. This study examined narrative writing and broad task engagement in children with ASD compared to peers with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and typically developing (TD) peers. Method: Sixty children with ASD, 32 children with ADHD, and 29 TD children completed assessments of cognitive skills, symptom severity, and spontaneous narrative writing. Time spent engaged during writing was assessed during the spontaneous narrative writing task. Results: The ASD group performed lowest on text organization and quality scores as well as word production scores while also spending the least time engaged with the writing task. Time spent engaged was most strongly associated with narrative writing scores in the ASD group and explained unique variance in text organization and quality scores and word production scores after controlling for related age, cognitive skills, and symptom severity variables. The ADHD group showed similar associations between time spent engaged and word production scores, and time spent engaged explained unique variance in word production scores. Conclusions: Time spent engaged completing the writing task appeared lowest for the ASD group and may suggest writing task engagement to be a more prominent difficulty area for children with ASD compared to peers with ADHD and TD peers. Implications for better understanding and supporting the writing skills of children with ASD are discussed.

Gaps in Current Autism Research: The Thoughts of the Autism Research Editorial Board and Associate Editors

Autism Research, 2019

Broken bridges-new school transitions for students with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review on difficulties and strategies for success

Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2018

Transitioning to a new school is often challenging for students with autism spectrum disorder. Fe... more Transitioning to a new school is often challenging for students with autism spectrum disorder. Few studies have examined the transition needs of students with autism spectrum disorder or the benefits of specific supports. This review synthesizes research findings on the difficulties that school transitions pose for students with autism spectrum disorder and their parents and teachers, and the strategies used to support students and parents during school transition. The review included 27 studies (10 examining the transition to primary school, 17 the transition to secondary school), with data from 443 students with autism spectrum disorder, 453 parents, and 546 teachers, across four continents (North America, Europe, Africa, and Australia). Studies reported that children with autism spectrum disorder struggled with anxiety and increased social pressure, their parents felt overwhelmed with complex placement decisions and worried about the well-being of their children, and teachers str...

The Stability of Self-Reported Anxiety in Youth with Autism Versus ADHD or Typical Development

Journal of autism and developmental disorders, Jan 7, 2017

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at risk for anxiety symptoms. Few anxiety measur... more Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at risk for anxiety symptoms. Few anxiety measures are validated for individuals with ASD, and the nature of ASD raises questions about reliability of self-reported anxiety. This study examined longitudinal stability and change of self-reported anxiety in higher functioning youth with ASD (HFASD) compared to youth with symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and typical development (TD) using the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (March, 2012; March et al. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 36(4):554-565, 1997). Diagnostic groups demonstrated comparable evidence of stability for most dimensions of anxiety. The HFASD group displayed higher anxiety than both comparison groups, especially physical symptoms. These findings have implications for identification and measurement of anxiety in ASD.

Joint Attention in Preschool Children: Is it a Meaningful Measure?

International Journal of School and Cognitive Psychology, 2015

The goal of this study was to evaluate the degree to which measuring joint attention an aspect of... more The goal of this study was to evaluate the degree to which measuring joint attention an aspect of social attention, is meaningful for the learning and development of preschool children. Joint attention refers to the executive capacity to coordinate visual attention with another person. This pivotal skill begins to develop from 6 to 18 months of age and continues to be refined and coordinated throughout individual developmental trajectories. In this study joint attention was measured in forty-three 4 to 5-year-olds asked to coordinate their attention with that of an unfamiliar adult during a social attention word learning task. The results revealed that there were individual differences in joint attention for children in this age group which suggests that this may be a meaningful construct to measure. These data contribute to a small but growing literature on the potential utility of joint attention theory and measurement in preschool aged children to further our understanding of social attention coordination in classroom contexts.

Supporting the Spectrum Hypothesis: Self-Reported Temperament in Children and Adolescents with High Functioning Autism

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2015

This study tested the spectrum hypothesis, which posits that children and adolescents with high f... more This study tested the spectrum hypothesis, which posits that children and adolescents with high functioning autism (HFA) differ quantitatively but not qualitatively from typically developing peers on self-reported temperament. Temperament refers to early-appearing, relatively stable behavioral and emotional tendencies, which relate to maladaptive behaviors across clinical populations. Quantitatively, participants with HFA (N=104, aged 10-16) self-reported less Surgency and more Negative Affect but did not differ from comparison participants (N=94, aged 10-16) on Effortful Control or Affiliation. Qualitatively, groups demonstrated comparable reliability of self-reported temperament and associations between temperament and parentreported behavior problems. These findings support the spectrum hypothesis, highlighting the utility of self-report temperament measures for understanding individual differences in comorbid behavior problems among children and adolescents with HFA.

Metacognitive Awareness of Facial Affect in Higher-Functioning Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Journal of autism and developmental disorders, Jan 23, 2015

Higher-functioning participants with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) viewed a series o... more Higher-functioning participants with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) viewed a series of face stimuli, made decisions regarding the affect of each face, and indicated their confidence in each decision. Confidence significantly predicted accuracy across all participants, but this relation was stronger for participants with typical development than participants with ASD. In the hierarchical linear modeling analysis, there were no differences in face processing accuracy between participants with and without ASD, but participants with ASD were more confident in their decisions. These results suggest that individuals with ASD have metacognitive impairments and are overconfident in face processing. Additionally, greater metacognitive awareness was predictive of better face processing accuracy, suggesting that metacognition may be a pivotal skill to teach in interventions.

Nonverbal Communication and Early Language Acquisition in Children With Down Syndrome and in Normally Developing Children

Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 1995

Many children with Down syndrome display asynchrony in development with the acquisition of langua... more Many children with Down syndrome display asynchrony in development with the acquisition of language preceding at a slower pace than the acquisition of other cognitive skills. Recent research suggests that the expressive language delays that are displayed by these children may be associated with an earlier disturbance in the development of nonverbal requesting skills (Mundy, Sigman, Kasari, & Yirmiya, 1988; Smith & von Tetzchner, 1986). To test this hypothesis, a longitudinal study of 37 children with Down syndrome and 25 children with normal development was conducted. The results of the study indicated that this sample of children with Down syndrome exhibited a disturbance in nonverbal requesting. Furthermore, individual differences in nonverbal requesting were associated with the subsequent development of expressive language in these children. This association was observed even after taking into account initial variance in developmental level and language status. These data suggest...

Joint Attention and Early Social Communication: Implications for Research on Intervention with Autism

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 1997

Highly structured, intensive early intervention may lead to significant developmental gains for m... more Highly structured, intensive early intervention may lead to significant developmental gains for many children with autism. However, a clear understanding of early intervention effects may currently be hampered by a lack of precision in outcome measurement. To improve the precision and sensitivity of outcome assessment it may be useful to integrate research on the nature of the social disturbance of

Resting cortical brain activity and social behavior in higher functioning children with autism

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2005

Background: Psychophysiological measurement of processes related to social behavior may be valuab... more

Self‐referenced memory, social cognition, and symptom presentation in autism

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2009

Background: We examined performance on a self‐referenced memory (SRM) task for higher‐functionin... more Background: We examined performance on a self‐referenced memory (SRM) task for higher‐functioning children with autism (HFA) and a matched comparison group. SRM performance was examined in relation to symptom severity and social cognitive tests of mentalizing.Method: Sixty‐two children (31 HFA, 31 comparison; 8–16 years) completed a SRM task in which they read a list of words and decided whether the word described something about them, something about Harry Potter, or contained a certain number of letters. They then identified words that were familiar from a longer list. Dependent measures were memory performance (d′) in each of the three encoding conditions as well as a self‐memory bias score (d′ self–d′ other). Children completed The Strange Stories Task and The Children’s Eyes Test as measures of social cognition. Parents completed the SCQ and ASSQ as measures of symptom severity.Results: Children in the comparison sample showed the standard SRM effect in which they recognized...

Anterior EEG Asymmetry and the Modifier Model of Autism

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2010

Temperament as a Predictor of Symptomotology and Adaptive Functioning in Adolescents with High-Functioning Autism

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2009

Responding to Joint Attention Across the 6- Through 24-Month Age Period and Early Language Acquisition

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 2000

Anticipatory smiling: Linking early affective communication and social outcome

Infant Behavior and Development, 2009

In anticipatory smiles, infants appear to communicate pre-existing positive affect by smiling at ... more In anticipatory smiles, infants appear to communicate pre-existing positive affect by smiling at an object and then turning the smile toward an adult. We report two studies in which the precursors, development, and consequences of anticipatory smiling were investigated. Study 1 revealed a positive correlation between infant smiling at 6 months and the level of anticipatory smiling at 8 and 10 months during joint attention episodes, as well as a positive correlation between anticipatory smiling and parent-rated social expressivity scores at 30 months. Study 2 confirmed a developmental increase in the number of infants using anticipatory smiles between 9 and 12 months that had been initially documented in the Study 1 sample [Venezia, M., Messinger, D. S., Thorp, D., & Mundy, P. (2004). The development of anticipatory smiling. Infancy, 6(3), 397-406]. Additionally, anticipatory smiling at 9 months positively predicted parent-rated social competence scores at 30 months. Findings are discussed with regard to the importance of anticipatory smiling in early socioemotional development.